This drawing of a horse by Leonardo da Vinci shows he had a really good understanding of the way a horse moves and what his muscles are doing beneath it's thick skin. He obviously spent a lot of time studying the animals whilst they raced. You can almost feel the wind rushing past as you look at this image. You can see where da Vinci has repeated some of the horses body parts, obviously trying to keep up with the fast moving animal. He has shaded in areas using line to indicate darker tones or shadow, and also the fine textue of the horses hair. The faint image of the it's rider is a sign of a future painting perhaps.
Here is another amazing sketch, this time of a lion. You do wonder where da Vinci found the time to hang out and study lions... Again, here he uses line marks with his pen and ink to indicate the texture of the animals hair. The drawing goes unfinished - he has focused more on the lions huge roaring mouth and his mane flicking about him as he moves than the rest of his body. Catching snippets of an animal's pose is clearly enough to capture it's nature.
This is a beautiful study of a hare by Durer. He has managed to recreate this furry animal's texture so well - you can see that it's soft to touch. A typical pose for a hare in a relaxed state - hind legs tucked underneath, ears upright in anticipation - but actually quite a rare pose too as you usually see hares pounding the turf, disappearing into the distance.
I love this study too. It displays the bat in a way that makes it look so vulnerable and open to the viewer. Durer's animal drawings definitely have more of a scientific look about them than da Vinci's sketches. Durer drew dead things in all their gorey, explicit detail, plain for all to see. Da Vinci's drawings have more of a romantic look about them... unfinished and well, sketchy! But perhaps it's the grainy, tarnished paper and old browned ink making me think that...
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